Mr. Joel A. Aura is currently Chief Technologist in the department of Plant Science and Crop Protection charged with the responsibility of overall coordination of technical and administrative matters in the department. He was promoted to Chief technologist position in March 2010.

He attended Ebuyalu Primary School and Nyangori High School both located in Vihiga County where he attained CPE and EACE respectively. Thereafter he attended the Kenya Polytechnic and attained Higher National Diploma in Applied Entomology.

He has attended several short courses in the area of insect pest management and identification. His area of expertise is Applied Agricultural Entomology and Insect Ecology/ Taxonomy.

After graduation at Kenya Polytechnic he worked at KARI as Laboratory Technologist in Crop Protection Unit from 1981 to 1989 and thereafter joined the University of Nairobi, Crop Science Department as Senior Technologist in Entomology Unit in 1990.

He has assisted several Diploma, undergraduate and post graduate students in their project work His administrative duties include duty allocation and supervision of Technical staff in teaching and research, preparation of annual budgets and procurement plans, preparation of teaching and office requirements, coordination of academic trips for students and management of transport in the department. He is currently Chairman of College Waste Management Committee and a member of Departmental committees including Advisory, Efficacy Trials, Environmental and Exhibitions/Shows.

Bio

Mr. Joel A. Aura is currently Chief Technologist in the department of Plant Science and Crop Protection charged with the responsibility of overall coordination of technical and administrative matters in the department. He was promoted to Chief technologist position in March 2010.

He attended Ebuyalu Primary School and Nyangori High School both located in Vihiga County where he attained CPE and EACE respectively. Thereafter he attended the Kenya Polytechnic and attained Higher National Diploma in Applied Entomology.

Publications

2013

Field experiments were conducted over two croppi ng seasons to investigate the effectiveness of border crops in managing potato aphids and the associated viruses in seed potato production. Potato plots were surrounded with maize, sorghum and wheat borde rs. Aphid population was monitored on leaves and on yellow sticky traps. Other data collected included virus disease incidence and tuber yield. The border crops reduced aphid popula tion on leaves compared to non-bordered potato plots. More alate aphids we re caught on yellow sticky traps placed inside potato plots than on traps placed inside the border crops. In addition, virus disease incidence was reduced in all plots surrounded by the border cr ops. However, plots surrounded by border crops had reduced tuber yield, although the yield of s eed grade was increased. The results indicated that use of border crops would be beneficial in the management of virus diseases in small-holder seed potato production.

A field experiment was conducted over two cropping seasons to investigate the effectiveness of cereal border crops in managing potato aphids and the associated viruses during seed potato production. Potato plots were surrounded with maize, sorghum or wheat borders. Aphid population was monitored on leaves and on yellow sticky traps. Other data collected included viral disease incidence and tuber yield. The border crops reduced aphid population on leaves compared to non-bordered potato plots. More alate aphids were caught on yellow sticky traps placed inside potato plots than on traps placed inside the border crops. In addition, viral disease incidence was reduced in all plots surrounded by the border crops. However, plots surrounded by border crops had reduced tuber yield, although the yield of seed grade was increased. Thus use of border crops is beneficial in management of viral diseases during seed potato production.